Core Ministries

Our Core Ministries

1. Gospel-Centered Worship - We are a gospel-centered community committed to the worship of God. Worship occurs in both personal and community contexts, as individuals pursue the worship of God in daily life, as parents lead their children into worship, and as our faith community enters into weekly worship together. Sometimes it is helpful to think about worship in terms of content, styles, and structure. The content of our community worship is based upon the biblical ideas of remembrance and anticipation, as we both celebrate the biblical history of the redemption in Jesus Christ as well as look forward to the full consummation of His eternal Kingdom. The style of our worship joyfully celebrates various expressions of praise while holding the content of gospel-centered lyrics or arts as the priority of worship. The structure of our community worship reflects our solidarity as a church and seeks to engage both the intellect and emotion as we rejoice and reflect on the truths of the gospel through the following key elements: • The Proclamation of God’s Word • Repentance and Prayer • The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper • Personal Testimony • The Giving of our Resources • Expressions of Praise and Thanksgiving through Music and the Arts.

2. Gospel-Centered Discipleship - We are a gospel-centered community committed to the discipleship of believers into full Christian maturity. Our community discipleship structure is focused on Children, Youth, College, Adult, and Senior Adult ministries. Specific attention is given to equipping parents to lead their children as disciples of Christ in a way that recognizes the home as the primary training-center for the next generation of disciples. Discipleship at First Baptist Maryville is not programmatic, but is supported by the following key elements: • Integration: Helping assimilate newcomers into our church family • Education: Teaching and learning the Bible in Sunday School and other weekly study groups • Fellowship: Developing deep relationships through sharing life together in Small Groups • Pastoral Care: Caring for the sick and bereaved.

3. Gospel-Centered Missions - We are a gospel-centered community committed to both local and global missions. Our focus on missions recognizes that every believer is an ambassador for Christ in both word and deed. Our mission ministries are focused on the growth and advancement of the Kingdom of God. As such, our local and global mission’s ministries embrace the following key elements: • Evangelism • Exhortation • Church planting • Mercy ministries to the poor • Orphan care and adoption ministries • Hunger relief • Engaging new people groups for Christ.

Evaluating Ministry Effectiveness

To grow a strong and healthy biblical church, we will need to regularly evaluate our ministry effectiveness. One key question to guide our evaluation will be: What is the objective evidence that our church’s Core Ministries (Worship, Discipleship, and Missions) are contributing to the Kingdom of God? Other questions for consideration will include: Are we staying aligned with our Core Values and Essential Beliefs? How do we assess the effectiveness of our leaders to ensure their personal and spiritual well-being for ministry? Where are the areas of improvement needed for faith-life integration? We recognize and affirm that Christian ministry is not just about metrics – we do not need to just look at numbers such as giving, attendance, baptisms, and new members, but we also need to look at the quality and degree of excellence by which we are carrying out our work for the Lord. “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).